Various mining work machines, such as rock drilling equipment, loading equipment and transport equipment, are provided with a software-based control platforms and user interfaces. The operation of mining work machines at work sites is guided and controlled by production management information supplied by a production management system.
Each mining work site typically has its own production management plan comprising various kind of production management information, such as schedules, work machine allocations, drilling plans, etc. This information is continuously updated as the production at the mining work site proceeds. Therefore, the production control information of a particular mining work machine, i.e. tasks to be carried out by said mining work machine, needs to be continuously updated, e.g. on daily basis.
In many occasions, the production control information is supplied to a particular mining work machine manually. The production control information may be supplied to a particular mining work machine using a public communication network, such as a cellular network and a satellite telephone system. However, public communication networks do not offer a very cost-effective way for providing mining work machines with the production control information. Moreover, taking the mining work machine, e.g. from an underground mine, in connection with a communication network for the updating the production control information may interrupt the operation of the apparatus.